Leeds Rhinos: Ferres won’t appeal against 6-game ban

Leeds and England forward Brett Ferres will not appeal against his six-game ban, Rhinos coach Brian McDermott has announced.

Ferres was suspended for making dangerous contact with Oliver Gildart in Rhinos’ 26-18 win over Wigan Warriors at Headingley last Friday.

Wigan says Gildart is facing a two to three-month lay-off with a “serious back injury”.

Ferres was sin-binned during the game and then charged with a Grade E offence.

He admitted the dangerous contact when he appeared before the Rugby Football League’s disciplinary committee this week, but contested the grading and initially indicated he might appeal against the length of the ban.

But McDermott said Ferres will accept his punishment.

“I think it’s hurt him, he six games, on a couple of levels,” McDermott said.

“One that he is going to miss six games. He feels like he’s let the club down, the team down and everybody else.

“But also what shocked him was the level of games, which would suggest that the judiciary partly thinks he put Gildart in that position on purpose

“He won’t appeal, he has always maintained his concern is with Gildart now.”

Outlining his thoughts on the incident and the suspension, McDermott said: “I’ve no real complaint with the ban.

“I don’t want to at all come across like I’m trying to explain it away or defend him, because the kid was caught in a really awkward position.

“It’s a position we see a lot of. I just don’t think there is any player in the game - including Brett - who put blokes in that position on purpose.

“The way Brett was dealt with was like he was trying to get that position. The grade E [suggests] he was trying to put him in that position.

“This happens to smaller men when they reverse leg drive into bigger men and it will continue to happen while ever the smaller men reverse leg drive into a bigger man, almost folding the bigger man over on to him.

“What the judiciary have said - and rightly so - is that before he got in that position there’s things you could have done to ensure that when he reverse leg drives into you you don’t fold over on top of him.

“There are things that Brett Ferres could and should have been aware of earlier in that exchange, but we’re talking fractions of seconds.

“It’s a dangerous position and I’ve no real grievance with the guilty verdict. We hope Gildart comes out of this.”

Ferres will be unavailable until the weekend of May 13/14 when Rhinos will be in Challenge Cup sixth round action, if they beat Doncaster later this month.